Mobility Site - View Single Post - DEFINITIVE ROUNDUP of 3 st. BT headphones: Nokia HS-12W,Plantronics Pulsar 590 & 260

Menneisyys · 04-13-07, 05:50 AM

Several new Plantronics Pulsar 260 reviews published

It was over a month ago that I’ve published an all-in-one comparative review & compatibility report (available HERE) on three A2DP (stereo Bluetooth) headphones. Now that the headphones have also arrived at the U.S. too (at last, something we Europeans got way earlier than you Americans ;) ), a lot of reviews have surfaced on well-known headset / headphones manufacturer Plantronics’ new Pulsar 260 also featured in the above-linked roundup.

Unfortunately, as has been emphasized numerous times by me and a LOT of other mostly XDA-Developers and HowardForums users (I really recommend following the BT & A2DP-related posts in these two forums, there are some very knowledgeable people there; for example, Fire Dragan in the latter forum), the current state and implementations of the A2DP standard are far from perfect and interoperability is REALLY reduced. This means on paper A2DP-capable headphones are not guaranteed to co-work with any A2DP sources. An example of this, in addition to the major sound quality problems with the MS BT stack, is the constant reconnection problems (resulting in annoying beeps and pauses) with the Nokia 5300. And, of course, the sound quality issues...

This also means you WILL want to read my review & comparison. Believe me, no matter what some people state, these headphones deliver REALLY BAD sound quality when used together with the Microsoft Bluetooth stack coming with almost all current Windows Mobile-based devices (except for the Acer models, the HP iPAQ’s (including the hw6915) and the Fujitsu-Siemens T830). I’ve also elaborated on these issues in this PPCT thread – it’s REALLY worth giving a read to see why I state they are incompatible with the stack. You’ve been warned – don’t come telling me you’ve shelled out $50…$100 for a really bad-sounding pair of BT headphones because I haven’t warned you ;)

OK, the new reviews, packed with photos:

The Gadgeteer review

GearDiary review

Digital Trends review

CTIA 2007 Blog post; related PPCT thread

BTW, upon the European release of the 260, Plantronics still didn’t have the promised and, in the leaflet accompanying the headphones, referenced online documentation. Now it’s out and available here.

04-13-07, 05:50 AM	#5 (permalink)
Menneisyys Contributing Reviewer Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 4,579 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Several new Plantronics Pulsar 260 reviews published It was over a month ago that I’ve published an all-in-one comparative review & compatibility report (available HERE) on three A2DP (stereo Bluetooth) headphones. Now that the headphones have also arrived at the U.S. too (at last, something we Europeans got way earlier than you Americans ;) ), a lot of reviews have surfaced on well-known headset / headphones manufacturer Plantronics’ new Pulsar 260 also featured in the above-linked roundup. Unfortunately, as has been emphasized numerous times by me and a LOT of other mostly XDA-Developers and HowardForums users (I really recommend following the BT & A2DP-related posts in these two forums, there are some very knowledgeable people there; for example, Fire Dragan in the latter forum), the current state and implementations of the A2DP standard are far from perfect and interoperability is REALLY reduced. This means on paper A2DP-capable headphones are not guaranteed to co-work with any A2DP sources. An example of this, in addition to the major sound quality problems with the MS BT stack, is the constant reconnection problems (resulting in annoying beeps and pauses) with the Nokia 5300. And, of course, the sound quality issues... This also means you WILL want to read my review & comparison. Believe me, no matter what some people state, these headphones deliver REALLY BAD sound quality when used together with the Microsoft Bluetooth stack coming with almost all current Windows Mobile-based devices (except for the Acer models, the HP iPAQ’s (including the hw6915) and the Fujitsu-Siemens T830). I’ve also elaborated on these issues in this PPCT thread – it’s REALLY worth giving a read to see why I state they are incompatible with the stack. You’ve been warned – don’t come telling me you’ve shelled out $50…$100 for a really bad-sounding pair of BT headphones because I haven’t warned you ;) OK, the new reviews, packed with photos: The Gadgeteer review GearDiary review Digital Trends review CTIA 2007 Blog post; related PPCT thread BTW, upon the European release of the 260, Plantronics still didn’t have the promised and, in the leaflet accompanying the headphones, referenced online documentation. Now it’s out and available here. __________________ MS MVP- Mobile Devices.